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Black Sex in America: A Conversation on Slavery and Sexuality

by Spectrum Staff Writer - February 22, 2014

By Imani Thompson

Sex is incorporated in just about every facet of life.Within every major industry sex has been intertwined with media messages and exposed to the public. In today’s society sex is no longer looked at as an act of passion between two individuals, but instead a stereotypical separation between race and gender.

The African Psychology Student Association (APSA) put together a program on Feb. 21 called "Black Sex in America: A conversation on Slavery and Sexuality." This program started off by introducing a panel of six individuals who conducted the discussion in CLT 117. Each individual introduced themselves and continued by posing some eye-opening questions such as: What does sex truly mean? Who implanted the perception of sex? Have constant stereotypes misconstrued feelings about sex?

After being confronted with these questions, the audience began to wonder what the real answers to these questions were. The panel started the program by tackling the stereotypical viewpoints behind sex.

According the Holy Bible, sex is an act of love and passion between two individuals, the panelists said. But in today’s society not many believe in that particular definition. Just take a look at the media. Sex is highly promoted within television and music but their definition seems to be completely different from the Holy Bible.

The media promote males as sexual beings and able to have sexual relations with an infinite amount of women, the panelists said. But the media looks down on a woman for having multiple sexual partners. It’s almost as if sex is a male dominated practice because men have free rein whereas women have more restrictions when it comes to their sexuality.

But where did the essence of sex begin to diminish?

According to panelist Lisa Patterson, “You should never sleep with someone that you wouldn’t want to be." Patterson elaborated on her statement saying, that sex is an exchange of spirits and one should always be careful whose spirit they are carrying.